


Here We Are

by Frumious-Bandersnatch (NeverAndAlways)



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childbirth, Dialogue Heavy, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Light Angst, M/M, Mpreg, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Not canon compliant in the least, Pregnancy, Why Did I Write This?, sort of omegaverse?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2018-10-20 00:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10651350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverAndAlways/pseuds/Frumious-Bandersnatch
Summary: This year has been an eventful one for the grumps.





	1. Intro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm kind of breaking a promise to myself by writing this; I usually avoid this kind of fic. But the idea has been knocking around in my head for a year now and I figured I ought to let it out. That said, *I'm in no way implying that this could ever happen*. It's just something my messed up brain came up with and wouldn't let go of.

"...Anyway, next time on Game Grumps." Arin sits back from the microphone and stretches lazily.

Dan looks from him to the timer. Feels like they've only been here for a few minutes. "Whoa, really?"

"Yep. Next episode."

Now Dan shrugs. "Alright, see you nex-- wait, no, announcements, right?"

"Oh shit, yeah." Arin stops just short of ending the recording. "You wanna go first, or...?"

"Nah, go for it." Dan leans back on the couch.

"Okay, so. Announcement." Arin puts down his controller and leans in to the mic again. "Game grumps is gonna be taking a short hiatus in about two weeks--"

"Week and a half,"

"--right, week and a half. 'Cause we're having some electrical work done on the house, and we have to shut everything down for a while. But it should only take, like, a week at the most. So we aren't abandoning you guys--"

"We just don't wanna fuck up all our very sensitive recording equipment." Dan's machine-gun laugh fills the space for a moment.

"Exactly." Arin lets out a laugh of his own. Then he nods to Dan's mic. "Your turn, dude."

"Right." instead of leaning into it, Dan sits up a little and brings the mic to him. "So I have two announcements...wait, no, I lied. Three announcements. Anyway...so, first off: the NSP shirts finally came in. Our supplier is having some problems, and they weren't able to ship them out 'till just a few days ago. But we're packing them up now, and we hope to have 'em mailed by the end of the week. They're super rad, you guys, I think you're gonna like them." Dan smiles into the mic. "Second -- Barry, could I get a drumroll, please? -- second: the new Starbomb album is finally done!" Arin cheers just loud enough for the mic to pick up, spurring Dan into another burst of the giggles. "We're just putting some finishing touches on it, then you lovelies get to see it. It's gonna be awesome!" he draws out the word into a high note, and Arin cheers again. In the midst of the cheering, Dan leans forward again and drops his voice.

"Also, I'm pregnant."

"...wooo, new album, fuck ye-- what?" Arin's train of thought careens off the tracks. His eyes widen. He turns to look at Dan. His boyfriend is reclining again, with a little satisfied smile on his face. The timer ticks through a long stretch of seconds. "Care to run that by me again?"

"You heard me," Dan says placidly.

A nervous huff of laughter escapes Arin. "I'm..not sure I did, actually."

Dan's smile widens just a little. He pauses for emphasis, or maybe dramatic effect, then repeats, "I'm pregnant, Arin."

"Holy shit..."

"And it was you that done it," Dan adds. This finally breaks the tension somewhat; Arin lets out a bark of laughter.

"Well, I'd fucking hope so. Unless there's something you need to tell me?"

Dan snorts in amusement. "Oh yeah, I've actually been screwing Ross for the past year. Thought you knew."

"Dude,  _no._..!" Arin laughs in earnest now, but only for a moment before that nervous edge comes back. "Seriously though, holy shit..." he turns to his mic. "You, uh. You heard it here first, lovelies. We've got a lot to talk about." that last sentence is directed mostly at Dan, whose smile dims to a smirk. Dan turns to his own mic.

"Next time on Game Grumps. See you then."

 

**^^^^^^^**


	2. Chapter 2

It's a quiet day in the office.

Or it  _was,_  anyway. One moment Dan's got his feet propped up on his desk, scrolling around on his phone; the next, a pair of hands clap down on his shoulders and someone's yelling in his ear.

"DUDE!!"

He damn near falls out of his chair. Once he's caught his breath, to the tune of his friend's bizarre laugh, Dan turns around to scowl at him. "Ross, what the fuck?!"

Ross has to lean on the wall, he's laughing so hard. "Oh my god, your  _face!"_

"That's not funny."

"I beg to differ, that was fucking hilarious."

Dan retrieves his phone from the floor in lieu of punching his friend. "Whatever. I thought you were still on vacation?"

"Got back on Thursday. But," Ross takes his phone out of his pocket with a flourish, "I just heard the big news. On twitter, of all places."

"Ah. Is that what this is about?" Dan finally surrenders his irritation to a smile.

"Of course it is!" there's annoyance in Ross' voice, but he's all smiles. "I mean, you tell all one million of the lovelies before you tell the team??"

"I did tell the team. You just weren't here."

"Oh. Well..." Ross puts his phone back in his pocket. "Congrats, then."

"Thanks." Dan shifts a little in his chair, pulling his hoodie down slightly so his bump is visible. It's still just subtle enough that he can hide it if he wants, but he's found that he likes showing it off. Ross eyes the bump contemplatively.

"The internet is gonna have a field day," he smirks. Dan rolls his eyes.

"Don't even start, dude."

"Sorry."

"No you aren't."

"No, you're right, I'm not." Ross' smirk widens into a full-blown cheesy smile. "What did Arin do when you told him?"

"You know him. He had about a billion questions when he was done swearing. He didn't believe me for a good ten minutes; thought I was just messing with him." Ross laughs again. "Honestly, _I'm_ not even sure I believe it yet. It doesn't seem real."

"Well, it's sure as hell gonna change things."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"I can just see it now..." Ross muses. He puts on a high, childlike voice. "'Dad, who's Danny Sexbang?'"

That does it. Dan throws his head back and breaks into a full-on laugh. "Oh my god, no! No, the kid is never going to know about that. Not if I can help it."

"Know about what?" Arin strolls into the room, laptop in hand. He catches sight of Ross and startles a bit. Ross just seems to have that affect on people. "Oh, hey. I thought you were still on vacation, what are you doing here?"

"Harassing me," says Dan before Ross can answer. Ross, far from being embarrassed, just shrugs.

"It's my job."

Arin casts him an amused sidelong look. "Don't harass the pregnant guy, Ross."

"You're no fun."

"Yeah, well, tough shit. Since you're here, though," he slips past them and beckons Ross toward his office "I could use your help. Something's weird with the ICC profiles on my copy of illustrator..."

"Sure." Ross saunters after him, waving to Dan as he goes.

"Bye, Ross." Dan calls after him in a teasing sing-song.

"Bye, Danny." Ross sing-songs back. Dan smirks and rolls his eyes. And when Arin and Ross disappear into the office and shut the door behind them, he puts his feet back up on the desk and goes back to scrolling. This time, with one hand on his belly.

 

**^^^^^^^**


	3. Chapter 3

' _I didn't want to be the one to forget, I thought of everything I'd never regret, let's run with it because it's all we can take, one thing I'd never see, the same way arou_ \--'

'-- _don't you know, don't you know, that it's wrong to take what is given you, so far gone, on your own, you can get along if you try to be_ \--'

"Babe?"

'-- _you say you want diamonds on a ring of gold, you say you want your story to remain untold, but all the promises we make, from the cradle to the grave..._ '

"Dan?"

Finally Dan looks up from his spot on the couch. He's propped up on a couple of pillows with his tablet on his lap, scrolling methodically. It looks like he hasn't bothered with a hairbrush in a while; dark curls frame his face. "Hm?"

"What are you doing?" Arin repeats.

"Oh. Uh..." Dan hits a button on the tablet screen; the sudden absence of music leaves a ringing silence. "Just making a playlist."

Arin wanders to the couch and makes a 'scoot over' gesture one-handed. His other hand is holding a smallish cardboard box. Dan scoots forward; Arin takes out the pillows and sits himself down in their place so that Dan's head rests on his collarbone.

"What's the playlist for?"

Dan blushes just a little. "It...might be for the baby."

"'Might be'?"

"...it's for the baby."

Arin breaks out in a grin. "You're adorable."

"Shut up." Dan turns the music back on, but quieter.

'... _I don't believe it and it slips from the ground, I want to take you to that place near the rush, but no one gives us any time anymore, you used me once, you made an offer for it, then you ran off, I got this picture of us kissin' in my head_...'

"So what's in this playlist?" Arin asks, and quickly adds, "If you say 'music', I'm gonna push you off the couch."

Dan giggles. "Don't you fucking dare." then he scrolls a little more before answering. "A little of everything, I guess. I got some Daft Punk, U2, Queen, some Rush...I think I've got a Hall & Oates song in there somewhere too..."

"The classics," Arin says knowingly.

"Absolutely." there's an unmistakable note of pride in Dan's voice. "Any offspring of mine is gonna know damn good music when they hear it. Gotta get Mini-Grump started early."

"Mini-Grump?"

"Yeah, that's what some of the lovelies are calling the baby."

"Mm. That's cute."

'... _and we will never be alone again, 'cause it doesn't happen everyday_...'

Dan looks over his shoulder at the cardboard box, which now sits on Arin's knee. "What's that?"

"I dunno, it just came in the mail. 'S addressed to you." Arin hands it over.

Dan peers at the mailing label. "Huh."

"What?"

"It's from Brian."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, might need to take cover." a half-hearted joke, but it's the thought that counts. Dan un-tapes and opens the box to reveal...

"What is it, a shirt?"

"Looks like it." he lifts it out of the box and immediately grins. "Oh my god..." not just a shirt, a maternity shirt. He turns it around; on the front is printed 'ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: CREATOR OF LIFE'. Arin takes one look and bursts out laughing.

"That's the best thing I've ever seen."

There are two more shirts underneath the first. One has a picture of a game controller and reads 'WAITING FOR PLAYER THREE'; the other, which Dan immediately deems to be his favorite, says 'I'm making a human. What have you done today?'. A scrap of paper falls out when Dan unfolds it. He picks it up.

"What's that?"

Dan doesn't answer for a moment. His lips move silently as he reads. Then he hands it over.

 

_Saw these at the store. Thought you'd like them._

_\- Brian_

 

"Nice." Arin hands the note back. Dan stows it back in the box, then sits up, swings his legs off the side of the couch, and takes off his own baggy pajama shirt. The bump is harder to ignore now, or mistake for anything other than what it is. Although it does look a little out of place on someone so slender. As he tosses his shirt aside and pulls on the 'I'm making a human' one, Arin takes the opportunity to admire both him and the belly. He doesn't even try to look guilty when Dan glances back and catches him at it.

Dan freezes with the shirt halfway on. "What?"

"Nothing. Just lookin'."

He pulls it over his head and scoffs, "why?"

"'Cause. I like looking at you." Arin says it as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.

A head full of curls emerges from the neck of the shirt, with one brown eye peering out of the midst of them. Arin is quietly pleased to see the eyebrow arched in a frown.

"Arin."

"What?"

His head emerges fully. He paws the hair out of his eyes. "I've got heartburn like crazy. My ankles are swollen. I haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks, and I've gained like fifteen pounds."

"So?"

"I'm not nice to look at. Like, at all." Dan runs his fingers through his hair and pulls the shirt down over his belly. It fits around the bump instead of draping over it, turning it into a teardrop shape and making it seem bigger. "Also, you're biased."

"Maybe. I still like looking at you." on a whim, Arin leans forward and plants a whiskery kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. Dan squawks in mock indignation.

"Jesus, when did you get so fucking  _mushy?_ I thought I was supposed to be the hormonal one!"

Arin laughs low in response, still only inches away. He leans in to steal another kiss just as Dan turns his head; they collide and he backs off, rubbing his eye where Dan's cheekbone collided with it. "Ow, dude..."

"Sorry."

They sit in silence for a moment or two. Dan admires his new shirts and folds the ones he's not wearing. Downstairs in the office, they can hear Ross and Barry's voices in muffled conversation. Arin looks toward the sound.

"Hey, what time is it?"

Dan glances at his tablet. "Eight after twelve, why?"

"Dammit." Arin gets up from the couch. "We need to start on the Grump session soon."

Dan makes a sound of disappointment as he gathers his things. "'K."

"Meet you downstairs in ten?"

"Sure. What game are we doing?"

"How 'bout some Dead Rising?"

Now Dan grins.

"You're on."

 

**^^^^^^^**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I can't take credit for what's on the shirts; those are courtesy of google.)


	4. Chapter 4

"So I went to the doctor today."

They're on the last episode of the day. Arin has the controller, and is clicking away with his usual vehemence. Dan -- now undeniably pregnant -- is curled up with a blanket over his lap, watching calmly. Arin shoots him an odd look.

"Yeah, I know. I went with you. Why are you telling me this?"

"I know  _you_ were there, I'm telling the lovelies."

"...Oh. Sorry. Go on."

Dan laughs to himself and starts again, "So I went to the doctor today, withmy boyfriend  _who's about to have his ass handed to him by that monster--_ " a few seconds of swearing and button-mashing follow that tangent, then he continues. "Okay. Take three...I went to the doctor today, with Arin, and I had the second trimester ultrasound -- which, side note, ultrasounds are fucking weird. With the gross gel and everything. Anyway, we got to hear the heartbeat--"

"Which doesn't even sound like a heartbeat," Arin adds.

"Yeah, no, it doesn't. Sounds like someone drowning a washing machine."

"That's very specific." Arin laughs. But the laugh is immediately followed by his signature yell as on-screen, his character walks directly off the edge of a cliff. Dan waits patiently. He's used to this. As soon as Arin is quiet, he continues.

"...So we heard Mini-Grump's heartbeat, which was awesome. And surreal."

"Mm-hm."

A smile breaks across Dan's face and bleeds into his voice. "And," he draws out the word, "we got to find out the gender."

And that's where he stops. Lapses into silence and watches Arin play the game. In the midst of walking off another cliff and swearing about it, it takes Arin a moment to notice.

"Dan?"

"Hm?"

"Are you gonna tell them?"

"Yeah, of course. I was just waiting." Dan casts Arin a sly look. "You know Mini-Grump freaks out every time you yell like that?"

"Really?"

"Yeah...gymnastics like crazy." he lays one hand on his belly. "Anyway; Barry, could I get a drumroll, please?" he pauses for dramatic effect, then continues, "Turns out, it's..." another pause, "time for next time on Game Grumps." and before Arin can do or say anything, Dan reaches over and ends the recording.

Arin stares at him. He stares back.

"Dude."

"What?"

"You're  _evil_."

Dan bursts out laughing. "Thank you. I try."

"The lovelies are gonna lose their shit over this. That's, like...that's almost as bad as Ross."

"Well, you don't have to be mean about it."

"Seriously, they're gonna start getting pitchforks and shit--"

"Babe, chill. I'm gonna announce it on twitter."

"Oh."

"...in a few days."

 

* * *

 

Dan keeps his promise, but not without some prodding on Arin's part. Two days after the episode airs, a new tweet shows up, consisting of just three words:

 

_It's a girl._

 

It gets so many views and retweets that Dan ends up turning off his phone just to get away from them (he knows they mean well, but _jeez_.). When he turns it back on the next day, the notifications are still pouring in. Although at that point, he's not in much of a position to care.

He's in a van with Suzy, Barry, Ross, Vernon, and Arin, headed to a con, and he's pretty sure he's never been on a longer car ride. His ankles are swollen; his back hurts; he's got the mother of all headaches -- and to top it all off, he's nauseous. While Suzy and Arin chat in the front seat, Vernon dozes in the back, and Ross sketches, Dan sits motionless with his head on the back of the seat and his eyes closed, trying very hard to keep his breakfast down. It's not going well: this part of the road is increasingly full of bends and hairpin turns. That little alarm in the back of his mind is only getting louder. When they go through a series of particularly sharp corners, it turns into a full-blown klaxon. His eyes open.

"Arin."

"Hey, it's alive!" Ross teases. Dan ignores him.

"Arin?"

"Yeah?"

"Pull over."

Suzy looks over her shoulder at him. "What's the matter?"

"Just -- fucking pull over. Now." Dan starts to undo his seatbelt before they even reach the side of the road. As soon as the van stops, he yanks the door open and makes a run for it. Seconds later he's doubled over in the grass, losing his breakfast into a clump of ferns. His stomach rebels until there's nothing left to rebel against. Then he sits and tries to catch his breath. He hears another door open and shut, and footsteps running toward him over the gravel. Arin.

"Hey, you okay?" Arin crouches down behind him and puts a hand on his back.

"I've never gotten carsick before in my life," Dan croaks.

"I guess Mini-Grump has other ideas."

"I guess she does." Dan leans back on his haunches. It feels, quite literally, like he's been punched in the gut. And he's still queasy. He wipes his mouth on the back of his hand.

"I'll get you a water bottle. Hang on a sec," Arin runs back to the van. The trunk opens; Dan hears faint conversation. His hand goes to his belly, reassuring both himself and the baby. Shit, he feels awful. Isn't morning sickness supposed to be over by now?

Arin comes back. He crouches next to Dan again and hands him the water bottle and a spare T-shirt. Dan pours some water over the T-shirt and washes his face, then takes a few tentative sips from the bottle. Once it's clear that everything's staying where it should, he hands them both back to Arin.

"You okay to keep going?" asks Arin.

"I guess so."

Arin helps Dan to his feet. Together, walking slowly, they return to the van. When Dan climbs in and returns to his seat, there are four concerned pairs of eyes watching him. "Carsick," he explains, buckling the seatbelt gingerly under his belly. This seems to satisfy them; everyone goes back to what they were doing as they get underway. Meanwhile, Dan curls up (inasmuch as he can, with both his seatbelt and belly to contend with) and stares stubbornly at the horizon. Hell of a way to start a trip.

 

 **^^^^^^^**  


	5. Chapter 5

Suffice it to say, the day doesn't improve much from there. Dan gets sick several more times, even when they're clear of the hairpin turns. Even to the point where there's nothing left, and all he gets is a case of sore abs. It makes for a very long and uncomfortable drive.

 

When they get to their destination (two hours behind schedule), Dan doesn't make it much further than the hotel room. He carries his luggage in, dumps it, and proceeds to fall into bed. Or rather, onto it. He doesn't bother to get under the covers. Arin, meanwhile, is in full business mode; he doesn't notice Dan's absence until they've all met up on the vendor floor.

"...Alright, Ross, Barry, could you get the posters from the car? Me and Suzy are gonna start setting up the tables. Dan, why don't you--" he looks around. "Wait, where's Dan? I thought he was right behind us."

Vernon walks by with a stack of boxes. "I haven't seen him."

"Last I saw, he was taking his luggage up to the rooms," says Suzy. Arin frowns.

"I'll be right back."

Arin slips into the hall and takes out his phone; no messages. Hmm. He pulls up his boyfriend's number and texts him a quick < _where are you? >_

After a pause just long enough to be worrying, he gets a response.

 

< **still in the room** >

< **why** >

 

< _thought you said you were ok to help with setup?_ >

< **i was wrong** >

< **like. really wrong** >

 

< _still getting sick?_ >

< **yeah** >

 

Arin stares at the floor, lips pursed in thought. Is this a normal pregnancy thing? How would they even know? He types out another message.

 

< _ok_ >

< _two questions_ >

< **?** >

< _1:_ _want me to come up there with you?_ >

< **you're doing setup** >

< _that's not what I asked_ >

< **...no. i'm ok** >

< _2: do you need to go to the ER?_ >

< **fuck no** >

 

He smirks at that last one. The response was almost immediate. So he's still himself, at least.

 

< _ok_ >

< _one more_ >

< _how's mini-grump?_ >

 

This one takes a little more time. The 'typing' symbol appears and disappears several times before a message comes through.

 

< **don't know** >

< **she's not really moving** >

< **probably either traumatized or grossed out** >

 

Arin's heart lurches with alarm; a dozen different  _what-ifs_ start up in his head. He pushes the feeling down, hard, before answering.

 

< _you sure you don't need to go to the ER?_ >

< **dude. stop.** >

< **i'm okay.** >

< **either i got carsick, or i got a stomach bug** >

< **i'll be fine** >

 

He can almost hear Dan's irritation through the text. Time to back off.

 

< _ok. sorry_ >

< _just keep me posted_ >

< _i'll come check on you in a bit_ >

< **ok. will do** >

 

Arin's about to put his phone back in his pocket when it chirps again. He looks down at the screen.

 

< **love you, big cat** >

 

He smiles.

 

< _love you too._ >

 

 

* * *

 

 

Dan reaches back and pulls a blanket over himself. Suddenly he's freezing. He stubbornly ignores the wave of nausea that the movement gets him; he's had enough of that for one day. One year, even. Outside in the hall there are groups going by, excited voices and hurried footsteps. He catches a few snippets of conversation. His name and Arin's. Lovelies. Dan smiles, but he feels a little guilty too. He won't get to see them.

His hand goes down to his belly. It always seems bigger than he expects; it's an honest-to-god bump now. He can't even lay his hand flat over it anymore.

"Hey, sweetheart." he murmurs to it. Doesn't know if the baby can even hear him at this point, but whatever. "Y'know, if this barfing is your fault, I'd really like you to stop. We've still got all of tomorrow to get through." there's a tiny flutter under his hand, almost small enough to miss. "So is that a yes or a no?" probably a no. Thanks, kid.

Suddenly he has an idea. He picks up his phone and opens the camera. A few moments of rearranging, and he hits RECORD.

"Hey, lovelies. So, uh...change of plans. Looks like you won't be seeing me around. I'm really sorry; you know how much I love you guys. But...basically, I've been sick all day and I still feel like shit. So I probably shouldn't be out in public." Dan laughs lightly, but not for long. His stomach is getting ideas again. "Anyway, Arin and Suzy and Barry and everyone will be here, so you should totally go and say hi to them. And I'm sorry I won't be around...next time, though. I promise."

Dan ends the video. He can worry about posting it later. He sits up quickly as another round of nausea comes on. This time, though, he sits on the edge of the bed and breathes slowly, waiting and willing it to go away. Sheer stubbornness if nothing else. And it works. The nausea subsides after a minute or so, and he sags back down.

Damn...and he's still got three months to go.

 

**^^^^^^^**


	6. Chapter 6

Dan wakes up to sunlight on his face. The room is empty save for him; it's almost midday. He throws an arm over his face and swears at the world in general. He still feels awful. Achy and low-grade nauseous. Ugh.

But there's something else, too. Something else that woke him up. Hell if he knows what, though...

_Knock knock_

...Ah. Mystery solved. He half-turns toward the door and calls, "who is it?"

"Your boyfriend," a voice on the other side calls back.

Dan turns back and burrows into the pillow. He really doesn't feel like getting up. "Well, you don't hafta knock. You have the room key."

"No I don't."

His eyes drift to the bedside table -- upon which lies the room key. Dammit. Dan gives it few seconds of reproachful staring before he concedes defeat and throws off the blankets. He holds his belly with one hand as he shuffles to the door. Hotel room doors always seem to stick; he yanks it roughly open.

On the other side is Arin. His hair is up in a loose bun, he's wearing a Starbomb T-shirt, and he looks as worried as Dan's ever seen him. He raises his eyebrows in questioning.

"Can I come in?"

Dan steps aside. Arin walks into the room, shutting the door behind him, but doesn't go very far. Dan goes back to sit on the bed.

"How you feelin'?"

"Meh." Dan makes a 'so-so' gesture.

"Meaning...?"

"Uh..." Dan leans back on his elbows. "I feel slightly less like death. Which I guess is an improvement."

"Well yeah, considering you were losing your socks twenty-four hours ago. I'd say that's definitely a point in your favor."

Dan groans and lies down the rest of the way. "Except Mini-Grump got the hiccups at five o'clock this morning. Which is, like...negative points."

"Is that what that was about?"

"What?"

"You were kicking around like crazy. Thought you were having a nightmare or something."

"Mm." Dan stares at the ceiling. His boyfriend pauses, goes to the opposite side of the bed, and leans over so they're eye-to-eye.

"Hey. What's goin' on in there?"

Dan's gaze drifts over to meet Arin's. "I just. I keep thinking, like...what if this is how it's gonna be for the next three months? With the nausea and everything? I mean, there's Game Grumps and NSP and Starbomb and stuff. I can't spend three months doing  _nothing_. I'll go fucking crazy." his voice starts to crack on the last words. He shuts his mouth tight, embarrassed.

"Well, then we'll do whatever we have to to get you through it. Up to and including giving Mini-Grump a stern talking-to." his boyfriend squints up at him in vague, slightly misty-eyed disapproval. "What?"

"Trying to figure out if you're being serious or not."

"Well not the last part. But the rest of it, yeah."

A pause.

"C'mon, dude. You're supposed to laugh."

Dan just snorts. Half amusement, half exasperation. "Not in the mood." he grumbles. But he still leans up on his elbows for a kiss. Arin leans down to close the distance and return the favor.

"You can't tell me you're not excited about this, though," he murmurs against Dan's lips.

"'Course I am," Dan murmurs back. "when I'm not freaking out about it. I just don't wanna be sick all the time."

Arin pulls back a little. "What do you mean, freaking out?"

"Babe. Think about it. I'm literally growing a human being."

"...Well of course it's gonna sound terrifying, if you put it that way." this time, Dan really does laugh. The machine-gun sound erupts out of him and seems to take him by surprise. It spurs Arin into laughing as well. "I mean, that makes it sound like you're making her in a test tube or something."

Dan playfully shoves him. "Get outta here. People are gonna get suspicious if you're gone too long." Arin makes a reluctant noise, grabs one more kiss (okay, two more), and ambles away. "What're you up here for, anyway? Hope it's not just to see me."

"Can't that be the only reason?"

"We both have phones. You could've just texted."

"Fair enough." Arin goes to the closet, crouches, and starts rooting through his duffel bag.

"So...what are you up here for?"

He stands up. "Forgot my wallet." he waves it to prove his point, then stows it in his pocket.

"Idiot." Dan teases. Arin arches one eyebrow. Then Dan's phone buzzes, startling them both. He digs it out from under his pillow. First he peers at the screen, then he smirks at Arin. "It's Ross. He asks if we're having a good time." Arin groans. "You better go."

"Yeah..." Arin heads for the door.

"Arin."

"What?"

"Room key."

Arin heads back in the direction he came. "Fuck's sake..." he grabs the key and doubles back. " _Now_ I'm going."

"Sure, that's what they all say."

"Shut up."

Dan laughs to himself. "'Bye, Big Cat."

"'Bye," Arin sing-songs back, and shuts the door behind him.

The quiet that follows is a little lonely. Dan lies on the bed, massaging his belly and thinking about nothing in particular. A fluttery kick under his hand startles him back into the world. He smiles. "Look who's up. Glad one of us slept well." the baby kicks again and turns over. "I'm kidding, I love you. Don't get all offended." she stretches lazily. That's one feeling he'll never get used to. He sits up. "Yeah, it is kinda quiet in here...let's get some music going."

Dan reaches into his duffel bag at the end of the bed and pulls out his tablet. A few taps of the screen later, and the room is no longer quiet. The opening bars of a song filter through the speakers; he sits back and shuts his eyes.

 

 _Welcome to your life_  
_There's no turning back_  
_Even while we sleep_  
_We will find You acting on your best behavior_  
_Turn your back on mother nature_  
_Everybody wants to rule the world..._

 

**^^^^^^^**


	7. Chapter 7

They hit the road the next morning. Dan rides shotgun this time, and he's armed: music, saltines, and a thermos of peppermint tea. He's still not 100%. Mostly he stares out the window, dozing on and off. Now and then he nibbles on a saltine, or takes a sip of tea. Everyone else is doing their own thing -- reading, napping, scrolling through their phones, watching the scenery go by. Aside from the occasional  _clunk_ as someone's luggage settles, the van is quiet. It's a nice change from the busy convention hall.

Sometime during the last leg of the trip, they stop at a gas station. Fuel for both them and the car. When Arin comes back from the convenience store, he finds Dan awake and scowling at his phone. He climbs in and buckles up.

"Morning, sunshine." his boyfriend acknowledges him with a grunt. "What's the scowl for?"

Dan sighs and purses his lips before answering. "Just looking at twitter...I've got a few haters."

Of course, this catches Ross' attention immediately. He perks up like a dog at the mention of treats. "Really? What are they saying?"

"Ross," Vernon half-heartedly chides him.

"What? I'm just curious."

Dan scrolls a little further. "Lots of people giving me 'advice'," he does air-quotes with his free hand. "Mostly they're telling me I've changed a lot since I got pregnant--" Ross scoffs. "--a couple of 'em say I'm just boring now." he scrolls some more. "Here's one that thinks I shouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first place...oh, and this one says I should just leave Game Grumps..."

 _"Wow."_ Arin looks downright scornful. Ross still looks delighted.

"Kinda funny that they think they can just tell you what to do."

Dan groans and puts his phone on the island between the seats. "I'm glad you think it's funny."

"Dude, they're not worth being mad at. They don't even know you. You're, like...ten times the person they are."

"Aw." Dan cranes over his shoulder to look at Ross.

"What?"

"That was really nice of you."

Ross throws up his hands. "Why are people always so surprised when I'm nice??"

"It's a mystery," says Barry from the seat behind him.

The sarcasm is lost on Ross, who nods sagely and says "Yes it is. But," he adds, looking back to Dan, "don't let that lull you into a false sense of security. I'm still a jerk, deep down." he leans back in his seat and smiles a rather smug smile. Both Dan and Arin laugh aloud. Then Arin starts the van.

"Alright, well, we've still got an hour and a half left, so don't be  _too_ evil."

"Yeah, you'll make Brian look bad," Dan chimes in. This time it's Ross who laughs -- or cackles, really. He takes out his sketchbook and flips to a blank page.

"I'll try."

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Dan and Arin make it back to their house, after dropping everyone else off, they are two very tired Grumps. Their luggage makes it into the house, but not much further. They can unpack tomorrow.

Arin goes straight to the couch and pours himself onto it. It sure beats those damn hotel mattresses. Dan pads past him to the bedroom; a few minutes of silence follow. Then his footsteps come back down the hallway into the living room, and stop in front of the couch. Arin opens one eye.

"Pajamas already?"

"I'm fucking exhausted, dude." he makes a shooing gesture at Arin. "Scoot over?"

Arin dutifully scoots over. Dan eases himself onto the couch and lies back, so he's bracketed by Arin's legs with his head on Arin's chest. His boyfriend sputters.

"Babe. Your hair is assaulting me."

"Sorry--" Dan flattens his hair down as much as it'll go. "How's that?"

"Thanks." Arin rests his head on the arm of the couch. "I thought you were feeling better?"

"Not  _that_ much better." Dan pulls his shirt down over his belly. "Being pregnant just...makes you tired all the time."

"Mm."

Arin watches the ceiling fan spin above them. A thought occurs to him.

"What's it like?"

"What, pregnancy?"

"Yeah."

Dan has to think about this one for a minute. "It's...kind of like being in the world's shittiest sci-fi movie." he says thoughtfully. This surprises Arin into laughter, and Dan laughs as well. "No, seriously, hear me out! Like, I've got this thing living in me that's basically taken over my body, but all it does is make my back hurt, give me weird food cravings, keep me awake at night, and make me cry over random shit."

"Like the lamest xenomorph ever."

"Exactly." Dan picks at a loose thread on Arin's knee. "But at the same time, it's the most amazing fucking thing. Like...I  _made_ this." he gestures to his belly. "it kinda blows my mind. And I love it. I mean, shit _,_ dude, we're gonna be dads! How awesome is that?" fatigue makes him speak slowly, but he still punctuates this last sentence with a grin that's a little goofy around the edges. Arin can't see it from his angle, but he can hear it in Dan's voice, and he grins too.

"It's pretty awesome."

Arin lays his head back and is quiet for a few minutes. The grin slides off his face. "It pisses me off, though, how people think they can tell us how to have this baby."

"What are you talking about?" Dan's voice is becoming scratchy with sleep.

"The comments. People saying you should leave Game Grumps 'cause you got pregnant."

Dan sighs. "Those people are talkin' through their hats. Like Ross said. It's not even worth getting mad about. Some people think they can say whatever they want just because they're anonymous." he cracks an enormous yawn. "'Scuse me."

"Yeah, I know...I just get tired of it. Like, what is it with people and giving unsolicited parenting advice when someone is pregnant? It's stupid."

"What's stupid?" Dan slurs, already half-asleep. Arin smirks.

"Nothing, never mind."

"Mm." Dan tucks one hand behind his head, and rests his cheek on his elbow. He's asleep within seconds. Arin closes his eyes as well, and enjoys the quiet.

 

ooO0Ooo


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright, you ready?"

Arin turns off the car -- and by extension, the air conditioning. In the passenger seat, Dan groans. Mini-Grump's been having a growth spurt the past week or so, and he's having trouble keeping up. The weather just adds insult to injury.

"It's  _hot,"_ he complains, petulant and only half joking.

"Well, summer usually is."

"Yeah, and I'm sweating for two." Dan unbuckles his seatbelt and looks out the window as though bracing himself for what's to come. Then he opens the door. As he climbs out and the first wave of thick, muggy mid-July air hits him, he lets out an exaggerated noise of disgust.

"Alright, now you're just being dramatic," Arin smirks.

"Maybe. My point still stands."

Dan goes around to the back seat and takes out a dry-cleaning bag full of sequined fabric. Then he and Arin make their way up to the house. When they knock, it only takes a few moments before footsteps come hurrying up to the other side. Holly opens the door, cheerful as ever, and they step into a dim and gloriously air-conditioned house. Ross wanders out from a back room.

"Hey Arin." he nods a greeting. Then his gaze lands on Dan, and up go the eyebrows. "Hey Dan. You're looking, uh..."

Dan silences him with a look and growls, "Don't even start." in return, Ross gives him a look of very transparent mock innocence.

"I was gonna say 'good', why do you always assume the worst from me?"

"Because he knows you," Arin shoots back.

"Ouch."

By now Dan has found himself a distraction, in the form of Orph jumping onto the couch. He glances up from scritching the cat long enough to add, "See, Ross, that act doesn't work on us because we already know you're an asshole."

"And yet, here you are."

"And yet, here we are," echoes Arin. Holly zeroes in on the dry-cleaning bag, which Dan has deposited on the arm of the couch.

"Is that the costume?"

"Yep, that's it."

Holly takes it out of the bag and holds it up to admire. Sequins glint in the light. "This is  _beautifully_  done,"she breathes. "I almost don't want to mess with it."

Dan smiles as he sits down next to Orph. "It doesn't need much, honestly. Just needs to be let out a bit to make room for the tenant." he passes a hand over his belly. He's back to wearing baggy shirts; with the amount Mini-Grump's been growing, they're the only thing that's comfortable.

"That I can do," says Holly, laying the costume down on a table and reaching for her sewing box. "I'm impressed you're still doing concerts, though."

"I mean, not as many. And I can't exactly jump around on stage now. But I'm gonna keep doin' this as long as I can."

"No surprise there. Don't get too comfy, I need to take your measurements."

Dan stands up again, leaving behind an indignant Orph. Arin steals his spot as Holly gets to work with her tape measure, jotting down each measurement as she goes. A single pigeon toddles through the room. Eventually Holly exchanges the measuring tape for a bristling pincushion and a box of fabric scraps. And while she measures and pins and cuts and pins again (with only the occasional "ouch" from Dan), the four of them chat. Arin and Ross talk shop for a while before moving to other things; Holly and Dan trade stories. And when the stories run out, they're left with a companionable silence. Dan returns to the couch as soon as he's allowed to. There, he watches with mild interest while Holly starts on his costume. The sewing machine whirs.

"When are you due, again?" asks Ross out of nowhere. Dan sighs inwardly.

"'bout thirteen weeks. Give or take a few days." seems like every conversation inevitably turns to this, nowadays. Mini-Grump is awake and kicking now, as if to remind him she's there. As if he'd forget. He massages his belly.

"So..." Ross begins, then falters. Dan arches an eyebrow at him.

"So?"

"So...what are you gonna do when she gets here? With the show and everything?"

Dan and Arin exchange a glance. It was bound to come up sooner or later. "Um. Well...that's part of why we're here, actually. We've been talking, and we think that after I have Mini-Grump, once the dust settles...we're going to tell the rest of the team first, obviously, but --" Ross pointedly clears his throat, jolting Dan into dropping the other shoe. "We're gonna call it quits on Game Grumps." the room is silent. Ross' face falls. The sewing machine stops cold. Dan wants nothing more than to sink into the floor and vanish.

Then Arin picks up the slack. "Not forever. Probably. Just until we get our feet under us again."

"And how long is that going to be? A few months, a few years?"

"Hey, if you've got a better idea--" Dan snaps, but Arin stops him with a gentle elbow in his side. Ross looks back and forth between them.

"I don't suppose you thought about how this is going to affect the rest of us?" he continues. The sewing machine starts back up, quieter now.

"No, we thought we'd just leave you all in the dark," Dan's voice drips with sarcasm. "Of course we fucking did. Game Grumps will still be a thing, no one's losing their jobs. It's just --" he stops, collects himself, tries again. "We're just gonna step back for a bit. Take some time off. That's all."

"It's still not very fair."

"And how would it be if we tried to do both? When Brian's kid was born, he was out of commission for months, and he wasn't even the one who  _had_ the kid. If we tried to keep the show going, it wouldn't be fair to anyone. Not to us, not to you guys, not to the lovelies, not to Mini-Grump. And I'm sorry you don't like it, but it's not really your choice to make." Dan stands up abruptly. "I have to go to the bathroom," he mutters, and stalks away down the hall.

 

** ** **

 

Dan catches sight of himself in the mirror as he's washing his hands. He dries them on his shirt and stands back to look at himself. From the front, then from the side; his gut twists with what he wants to call resentment, but it's not quite that. Whatever it is, it's immediately followed by guilt. Pulling his shirt tight over the bump, he sighs. "What are we gonna do with you, kiddo?"

The silence isn't quite as companionable when he goes to rejoin the others. No one can really talk around the elephant in the room. Holly finishes her work in relative silence, then they pack up the costume and head for the door. Ross doesn't say a word to them.

As they step out again into the heat, Dan pulls Holly aside.

"Hey, I'm sorry about...about  _that."_ he gestures vaguely. "I didn't mean to drag you into it."

Holly shrugs, and smiles gently. "I'm fine. And Ross will come around, he just needs some time to process." she pulls him into a brief, one-armed hug. "You'll figure it out."

Dan returns the smile, if not the sentiment. "Thanks, Holly." then Arin starts up the car and revs the engine pointedly. That's his cue. He ambles away with one last wave to Holly, climbs in, and they cruise away down the street.

When they turn onto the main road, Arin sighs. "That was fun." there's a barb in his words that's tough to miss.

There's that twist in Dan's gut again. He looks at his boyfriend askance. "Dude, don't. I already feel like a heel."

"We still have to break the news to the rest of the team, though."

"Yeah, which  _you_ can do. I'd rather not alienate any more of our friends."

Arin gives him an odd look. "If you don't think it's a good idea, then --"

"Then what?" Dan scoffs. "Can't exactly take it back."

"Well, no, all I meant is...never mind. I don't know." Arin shrugs, and they lapse into silence.

Another twist of... _something._ Dan lets his head loll back against the headrest, so he's staring at the car's ceiling. "Arin, are we even doing the right thing here?" he asks quietly. A few more seconds of silence follow.

"What, with the hiatus?"

"With having Mini-Grump."

"Can't really take that back, either."

"No, I mean, what if we're never able to start the show up again?"

"Then we'll do other stuff. I've got the whole voice acting thing, you've got NSP, we'll figure it out."

"But we'll have lied to everybody. Like, Ross, Vernon, Suzy, the lovelies, everyone."

"It's not like we'd be doing it out of malice. Shit happens, things don't always work out." Dan makes a sound that could mean any number of things. Arin gives him another look, but it's more considering than critical. "Alright, look. I know it's kind of a shitty situation. And honestly, you could've phrased it a lot better than you did. But it's not the end of the world. Whatever ends up happening, we'll make it work, okay?"

Dan stares out the window and doesn't answer. An uncomfortable silence spreads over the car. So Arin turns on the radio, finds a classic rock station, turns up the volume, and lets that fill the space instead.

 

ooO0Ooo


	9. Chapter 9

It's Saturday. Which means Dan and Arin have the house all to themselves. Normally they'd be enjoying each other's company -- so to speak -- but with Dan approaching 30 weeks, that's becoming less of an option. And besides, they have some important business to attend to.

Dan and Arin step into the backyard. There's an inflatable wading pool set up in the middle of the yard, already filled with water and flanked by two plastic chairs. Dan puts on his best narrator voice.

 _"At last, after weeks of navigating a self-imposed shitstorm, the adventurers happened upon an oasis."_ Arin giggles. Dan sets his glass of iced tea on one of the chairs, strips down to his swim trunks, and climbs into the pool with one steadying hand on his belly. He stands a moment, swishing his feet. Then he lies down. With his head resting on the rim of the pool, only his shoulders, his knees, and his belly are above water. He sighs luxuriously.

"Comfy?" Arin smirks.

"For the first time in like three weeks, yes." Dan closes his eyes with a smile. "I'm never coming out. I'm staying right here until I go into labor." Arin snorts in amusement. A few seconds pass; Dan opens one eye. "You getting in, or not?"

"Yeah, no, I'll be right there." Arin's tapping away on his phone by the side of the pool. He doesn't look up. Dan lifts a foot and splashes some water at him.

"Hey. C'mon Big Cat, it's our day off."

"Alright, alright..." at last, he concedes defeat and puts his phone down on the grass. But instead of climbing in, he scoots the remaining chair up to the edge and dangles his feet in the water. Dan looks at the discarded phone.

"Still haven't heard back from Ross?"

"Not a word."

Dan frowns. "Is it me, or are people avoiding us? I can't get ahold of Suzy, either, and I've barely heard anything from Vernon. 's like we've been excommunicated."

"It's gonna be a big change. They probably just need some time to process."

"Yeah, but _Suzy?"_

Arin shrugs. "I dunno what to tell you."

Dan makes a thoughtful sound, and the pair lapse into silence. A few minutes pass, filled with summer noises. A distant sprinkler. The occasional bird. Someone down the street mowing their lawn. Arin stares thoughtfully into the middle distance, while Dan shuts his eyes and begins to doze. Suddenly he jumps as though shocked, startling Arin out of his reverie.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, Mini-Grump's going crazy all of a sudden." Dan makes a face. "Ow. Jesus. Calm down, kiddo, it's just water. It's not even that cold, see?" he splashes some water over his belly and winces again. "Not the kidneys, I thought we agreed on that."

Arin's eyes crinkle with a fond, amused smile. He gets out of the chair, shuffles over to his boyfriend, and sits down in the water, T-shirt and all. "Can I?" he extends one hand. Dan moves his own hands away, and he lays his palm flat on Dan's belly. His eyes widen. "Damn, you weren't kidding."

"Nope. She's also been doing this at two o'clock in the morning." Dan's voice is slightly strained.

"Rude." Arin turns his attention to Dan's belly. "Hey. Hey," he murmurs, and again when he feels a tiny foot strike his hand. "Chill. I know you got a lot of energy, but your dad's trying to relax. Give him a break." there's another kick or two, then she falls still. Arin smiles. "Atta girl. G'night." there are stars in his eyes when he glances up and sees Dan watching him. He quickly covers it with a gruff "What?", but he can't seem to wipe the smile off his face.

"You're adorable," says Dan, with a fond smile of his own. "I thought I was supposed to be the one getting all sappy."

"Shut up," Arin grumbles half-heartedly, withdrawing his hand to lean on the wall parallel to Dan. He takes a sip of iced tea.

"What are we gonna call her, anyway?" Dan ponders.

"I dunno, I think Mini-Grump is a nice name," his boyfriend smirks, and gets splashed for his trouble. He laughs in between sputters.

"Seriously. We're gonna have to choose one sooner or later."

Arin wrings out his hair while he thinks. "I still like Violet, or Lily. Or Rose."

"Lily Avidan," Dan says it quietly, testing it.

"Why not Lily Hanson?"

"Either way." Dan swats away a curious yellowjacket.

"I knew a girl named Bina when I was a kid," Arin offers. Dan makes a face.

"I kinda like Sadie. Or Jude, or Ivy...or Finn...maybe Cleo..." Dan trails off, and Arin smirks. He shrugs sheepishly. "I've been thinking about it a lot."

"Clearly."

"We've still got nine weeks, though. It's not like we have to decide right now." he scoots farther down. His belly rises up out of the water like its own little island. "And I kind of want to wait till we meet her, anyway."

"Mm. Me too."

They lapse into silence again. This particular topic is one they've been over many times. The impending arrival of Mini-Grump has them both feeling pretty overwhelmed, and not just for the obvious reasons. It's a weird mix of emotions knowing that their daughter's birth will also potentially be the end of Game Grumps -- something they've devoted half a decade to. Trying to square with that has cost them a few nights' worth of sleep. But in the moment, sitting in the cool water and with no deadlines looming, it's easy to forget all that. So they let it be forgotten. At least for now.

 

ooO0Ooo


	10. Chapter 10

Well, here we are: it's the middle of September, exactly four weeks till Mini-Grump is due to arrive. Everything's ready. Their overnight bag sits packed and waiting by the door, Mini-Grump's room is all decked out, and they've got their midwife's number on speed dial. It feels a little bit like Christmas eve, but there is one thing they've been dreading as well.

The office is eerily quiet. No one's come in for weeks, except Barry and Vernon and occasionally Ross. Today, all the desks sit empty. It's not a permanent goodbye; everyone knows that. But it sure feels permanent.

Dan and Arin are in the Grump Room recording a few last episodes. It seemed only fitting to pull Grump's Dream Course out of mothballs for the occasion, and they've been playing level after level after level just to postpone the inevitable. But they just passed the final boss. Can't put it off anymore.

Arin puts down his controller and takes a deep breath. "Hey, so...before the next time on Game Grumps, me an' Dan have some things we wanna tell you lovelies."

"First of all, some very important news," says Dan loftily, "I realized today that I can't see my feet anymore when I'm standing. Like, at all. So I am officially way too pregnant." he laughs and Arin snorts with amusement. It's stilted, a little forced, but it dispels some of the tension in the room.

"Seriously, though," Arin continues, "It, uh..." another deep breath. Better to just say it, it'll only hurt more if they wait. "The thing is, this is the last episode of Game Grumps." looking at Dan, his boyfriend is stone-faced, all traces of joking gone. He finds Dan's hand, pressed close to his belly, and threads their fingers together. "Officially it's a hiatus, but...we don't know for sure when, or  _if,_ we'll be able to start things up again. 'Cause by the time this episode gets uploaded, Mini-Grump will probably have arrived--"

"God, I hope so," Dan mutters, just loud enough for the mic to pick up. Arin can't quite muster a laugh this time, but he manages a half-smile before he continues.

"--And we're realizing we can't do both. We've talked to a lot of people and gotten a lot of advice, and the consensus is that we're gonna be tired out of our fucking minds for, like, three to six months. Or more. We'd be crazy to try and keep the show going under those conditions." he hesitates then and sits back from the mic, but Dan quickly picks up the slack.

"You know how much we love you guys, and we can't thank you enough for all the support you've given us these past few months. We're gonna do everything we can to get the show up and running again, but...y'know, obviously, this is a really big thing. And as much as the show means to us, and as much as you guys mean to us, Mini-Grump kinda takes priority now." he lets out a heavy sigh. "But I gotta admit, today is probably the first time since I joined Game Grumps that I genuinely dreaded coming to work. Like, more than I'm dreading my due date, which is saying something, 'cause I'm fucking terrified of that." a few seconds of silence track across the audio recording. "It feels weird to say that out loud, now that I think about it. I mean...of course I'm excited to meet her, I can't wait.But I'll have to get through something like ten to twenty hours of labor first, and  _that_ I'm not too psyched about. I had to take a birth class, so I know what I'm in for. It's scary. We'll have Mini-Grump when it's all over, which of course makes all the however-many hours worth it, but everything leading up to that is gonna be kind of awful. Anyway." Dan's machine-gun laugh cuts through the space, more of a nervous reaction than anything, but still a welcome change to the heavy atmosphere. It even coaxes a smile out of Arin, albeit briefly.

"What we're trying to say, basically, is thank you. Game Grumps wouldn't be what it is now without you lovelies. It's become such a huge part of our lives, and it's affected so many people, and I'm just...constantly amazed by it." his voice is low and halting and more serious than Dan thinks he's ever heard. For some reason, it scares him a little. Like the reality of the situation has finally hit them both. His eyes start to sting, and he quickly blinks it back. Damn hormones. His hand and Arin's are still twined together; Arin gives his hand a squeeze and continues, "So...from me and Dan, and from Suzy and Ross and Barry and Vernon and Kevin and everybody else, thank you guys so, so much. For everything. Hopefully we'll see you again in a few months, but if not...we had a good run. And I'm glad we had you all along for the ride. And we'll see you next time on Game Grumps."

"Bye. Love you guys," Dan adds, then Arin stops the recording. The Grump room is dead silent; the scorecard hangs on the screen. The air feels very, very heavy all of a sudden.

Arin wipes his eyes on the back of his hand and gruffly says, "That sucked."

"What, you want to redo it?"

"No, it's fine, the recording's fine, it's just...it sucks." Arin shrugs and sniffles quietly. Dan, too, has to swallow past the sudden lump in his throat.

"Can't argue with that." Dan scoots in closer to Arin and tries to lean his head on his shoulder. But instead of reciprocating, Arin pulls away and stands up. Dan's chest tightens. "Arin?"

"Sorry, I just -- not now. I wanna be alone for a bit." Arin says thickly as he heads for the door. Dan fumbles out some kind of affirmative, but the room is starting to blur and swim. He just listens as the door swings open and clicks shut and doesn't make a move to follow. Eventually he turns off the TV. And he sits in silence for a long time after that.

 

* * *

 

It's getting late, and the house is dark. Arin is curled up in bed with blankets up to his chest and his old DS in his hands. The other side of the bed, though still stocked with pillows, is conspicuously empty. The bedroom door creaks open behind him; he doesn't react. Not until a familiar set of footsteps stops behind him, and a familiar voice says, "Hey."

"Hey."

"Whatcha playing?"

 _"Animal Crossing._ Didn't feel like doing anything else."

"Mm. Is Merengue still in your village?"

"Nah, she moved a couple weeks ago."

"Oh no, I liked her. She was cute."

A triumphant sound effect comes from the DS: Arin's character caught a fish. This distracts him for a moment, until Dan clears his throat pointedly.

"Guess what."

"What?"

No response. The silence is a little expectant. Arin looks over his shoulder. "Dan, what?"

"Look."

He shuts the DS and turns over. His boyfriend is standing with his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, looking almost pleased with himself. Arin, meanwhile, is drawing a blank. He looks Dan up and down. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Dan turns a little and pulls up his shirt. "She's dropped." Arin looks again and sure enough, the bump (if you can even call it that anymore) is sitting lower in his hips and seems less pronounced. Almost smaller. It sends a shot of cold up Arin's back.

"Are -- are you okay? Should we call Elise?"

Dan holds up one hand in a placating gesture. "I'm fine, slow your roll." he sits back against the headboard and stuffs a pillow under the small of his back. "I already texted her, she says it's nothing to worry about right now."

"I thought it meant you were about to go into labor. Like, _time to go to the hospital."_

"So did I. It does mean Mini-Grump is packing her bags, though. So we're getting there." he cups the lowest curve of his belly. "Elise says I probably won't make it to my due date, at this rate."

"Holy shit." Arin smiles dizzily. Dan answers with a smile of his own.

"Right? God, I can't wait." he reclines a little further. Arin eels up the bed to meet him, settling his own solid form against his boyfriend's lanky one and resting his head on the point where neck meets shoulder. His hand comes to rest on Dan's belly. Dan moves his own hand to join it. "You seem like you're doing better," Dan murmurs.

"A little. Just sad."

"'Course you are. We all are."

"I know...I just keep thinking the lovelies are gonna hate us for this."

"Never. If anyone criticizes you for it, it's on them, not you. And a bunch of the lovelies have kids of their own, I'm sure they'll understand." Dan rests his cheek on Arin's head. "For the record, I think you were amazing. Saying shit like that isn't easy to begin with, never mind recording it for four million people. I know how much you care about the lovelies, and I know how hard this has been for you. I'm really proud of you, Big Cat." Arin responds with a watery smile and a sniffle. Dan sits up. "Fuck, I didn't mean to make you cry, babe, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, I'm fine." another sniffle. Arin hastily wipes away a tear or two. "'m fine."

Dan bumps a kiss against Arin's cheek. His own eyes are looking a little damp. "C'mon man, you're gonna make me cry too. We can't both be sad and hormonal." he thwacks him gently on the arm. "And weren't you the one reassuring  _me_  about this,not too long ago?" this time Arin doesn't answer. And the humor fell flat anyway. So Dan pulls him back down to the bed, and they lay in rather teary silence for some time, tangled up in each other. After a while, Dan picks up the DS and starts to play. A while after that, Arin speaks up again. His voice is husky.

"I didn't know you were that freaked out about the birth."

Dan puts down the DS with a sigh. "Yeah...not gonna lie, I'm pretty scared."

"What is it that freaks you out, though?"

"I dunno, all of it? The idea of pushing an eight-pound human out of my body? Mostly, it's just that I know it's gonna hurt a lot. I mean, you went to the class with me, you saw the videos. Any day now, that's gonna be me. I feel like a ticking time bomb."

"Why not just get an epidural, then? Or a C-section?"

"Yeah, why not have a big fucking needle stuck in my back, or have someone cut me open and rummage around. God no." Arin raises his eyebrows at this; Dan backs down a little. "Sorry. I mean, I see what you're getting at, but...I kinda just want to get it over with. And honestly, those scare me just as much as the actual labor and delivery part."

"That's why we have Elise, though, right? And that's why we took that class, and why we made a birth plan  _and_ a backup plan. Honestly, I don't wanna do it either. Like, I don't wanna see you go through that. But it's going to happen no matter what, so..." Arin shrugs. "And like you said, when it's over, we'll have Mini-Grump." his voice softens on the last sentence. Dan doesn't think he'll ever get tired of hearing that. But there is, he realizes, a more pressing concern at the moment. With some reluctance, he disentangles himself from Arin and scoots over toward the edge of the bed.

"Sorry, I'm -- could you help me up?"

"What's wrong?"

"Gotta pee. Again."

Arin laughs to himself, but helps Dan heft himself up off the bed. Once upright, Dan makes for the door with great urgency, if not the speed to match. Arin watches with thinly-veiled amusement.

"You know, Brian was right. You really do waddle."

Dan flips him off all the way out the door.

 

ooO0Ooo


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been picking away at the upcoming chapters for quite a while, I hope you all like them!

It's T-minus five days, and Dan is miserable. His due date can't come soon enough. Everything is uncomfortable and annoying, he's constantly tired, and to top it all off, his body is playing some stupid cat-and-mouse game with him. He'll start having contractions for a few hours, just long enough to get his hopes up, and then they'll abruptly stop. The first time it happened, he and Arin made it all the way to the birth center before going home disappointed. And yet, every time it starts up, there's that same headrush of fear and excitement. Because apparently he doesn't learn.

Dan heaves himself out of his chair at the sound of the front door. It's accompanied by a sharp  _zing_ of pain in his hips that he barely even acknowledges. It's old news at this point. He just braces one hand on the small of his back and totters out to the living room.

Arin is setting a shopping bag on the counter just as he rounds the corner. He zeroes in on it.

"Did you find it?"

"Yep. One hot water bottle, as requested." Arin takes it out of the bag and hands it over.

"My hero. Thanks, Big Cat." pausing only long enough to give Arin a brief peck on the lips as payment, Dan heads straight for the sink. Arin, meanwhile, heads for the sofa across the room.

"How're you feeling?" he asks over the sound of the faucet. "Are the contractions still going?"

"No, they stopped just after you left. My back's still killing me, though. She must be on my sciatic nerve or something." Dan turns off the water, closes the bottle, and starts to shuffle back down the hallway. "Thanks again, babe."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To bed," Dan says over his shoulder.

Arin checks his watch. "It's 10:00."

"I know. But I'm tired, and gonna be lying awake for an hour or two anyway, so I might as well try to balance it out. And everywhere else is too uncomfortable." he waves to Arin. "'Night." he faintly hears Arin say goodnight in return, but by then he's already in the bedroom. He tosses the hot water bottle onto the bed and makes a quick detour to brush his teeth. Just as he's putting toothpaste on the brush, however, that twinge in his hips strikes again. Worse than the last time; almost enough to knock him off his feet, had it caught him off-guard. So he decides not to tempt fate, and sits on the edge of the tub to brush his teeth, feeling more than a little fed up.

The hot water bottle is a godsend. Even as he lowers himself onto his arrangement of pillows, he can already feel the muscles in his back start to relax. Finally. As he lays there in the dark, waiting for sleep and feeling Mini-Grump practice her somersaults, a thought occurs to him. He grabs his phone from the nightstand and fires off a text.

**< Hey, sorry for disappearing on you>**

A minute passes. His phone buzzes.

**< Don't worry about it>**

**< Is the water bottle helping?>**

 

**< It's wonderful>**

**< You coming to bed soon?>**

 

**< In a bit>**

**< Watching a movie>**

 

**< Ok>**

Dan lies there for another minute or two, enjoying the soft heat on his back. His phone buzzes again.

**< Oh hey, guess who I saw at the store>**

 

**<? >**

 

**< Suzy>**

 

**< And she actually talked to you? Impressive>**

 

**< Wow. Dude>**

 

He can almost feel Arin's disapproval through the screen.

**< Sorry>**

**< How is she?>**

 

**< Good, I guess>**

**< I think they're throwing us a baby shower>**

 

**<? >**

**< I dunno, just seems like they're planning something>**

 

**< Well god knows we'd be the last to hear about it>**

 

**< No shit>**

**< That's kinda the whole point of a surprise party>**

 

Dan rolls his eyes.

**< You know what I meant>**

**< Never mind>**

**< I'm going to sleep. Enjoy the movie>**

 

**< Ok. Night <3 >**

Dan puts his phone back on the nightstand and gets situated again. Then, as his eyes readjust to the darkness, he listens to the passing cars outside and lets his mind wander. And, for the first time in many weeks, he's asleep within minutes.

 

* * *

 

It occurs to Dan that he's awake. And it's still dark outside. That's becoming a far too common occurrence. The hot water bottle is still on his back, but it's stone-cold. And Arin's in bed now, so he must have been asleep for a while...what time is it anyway? He scoots to the edge of the bed, gropes for his phone and turns it on -- oh, it's three in the fucking morning, what the hell?  _Come on, kiddo, cut me some slack here. Some of us like to sleep at reasonable hours_. He runs a hand over his belly.  _Just stop with the kicking and let me get back to--_

...Wait a second.

Dan lies still for a minute, listening to Arin breathing slow behind him...and feels nothing. No kicking. She's asleep.

Okay, so why is he--?

As if on cue, the muscles beneath his hand tense up. The feeling travels across his belly in a wave and leaves him a little winded when it finally dies down.

So that's why. More contractions. He's almost convinced his body is just messing with him at this point. And there's only one way to really deal with them, but it means getting out of his nice warm bed. He's not sure he's willing to make that sacrifice just yet. So he lies there stubbornly for a bit, trying to will himself back to sleep. It almost works. Until another contraction starts up. He sighs his annoyance and slides out of bed (quietly. Only one of them needs to be awake right now).  _Fine. You wanna go for a walk? Let's go for a walk._

Ugh. As soon as he's out of bed and upright, all the weight of his belly just  _settles_ into his hips. Mini-Grump's been pretty much dead-center in his pelvis ever since she dropped. Which, granted, means his center of balance is a bit more normal, but it still feels weird. Dan shuffles down the hallway to the living room, does a slow lap there, then stops at the window. It's so quiet outside: no cars, no people. Just a streetlamp and a lot of dark windows. Sort of peaceful.

A contraction starts up. Dan sighs; time to move on. He turns away from the window and shuffles back across the room to the kitchen. There, he pours himself a glass of water and drinks it while he paces. Just for good measure.

Three more laps around the living room. Two more around the kitchen. One more glass of water.

...And another contraction. For fuck's sake.

Dan wanders through the rest of the first floor, ending up back in the living room where he started. The clock reads 4:10. He's seriously uncomfortable now. Too uncomfortable to get back to sleep, although god knows he'd like to. Only option is to keep going. He does a couple more laps of the living room, then wanders down to the basement door. The office is just one big loop, he can walk in circles there as long as he wants. Plus, the beanbag chair is calling his name.

Just getting down the stairs takes longer than it should. His center of balance might be more normal now, but he still feels like he's going to fall on his face every few steps. He's so focused on this balancing act that he doesn't realize, until he's at the bottom, that the lights are already on.

 _Really, Arin? You forgot **again**_ _?_

Without thinking, Dan reaches for the light switch. The computers will provide enough light to see by. He flips the switch -- and there's a yelp from the other side of the room.

"Hey!"

He turns the lights back on, looking around wildly. The culprit is sitting at their desk, looking reproachfully back at him. "Barry? What are you doing here?"

"...I _do_ still work here, you know."

Dan huffs out a weak laugh. "Man, Arin's got you working some weird hours."

Barry's train of thought throws on the brakes. "What are you talking about?"

"Have you looked at a clock recently?"

Barry frowns, but picks up his phone anyway. His eyes widen. "What the fuck."

Dan laughs. "Dude, how long have you been here?"

"Since...god, I don't know. Ten? Eleven?" Barry drags his hands over his eyes. "I wanted to finish up that edit I've been working on, but...damn. And I'd be coming back in a couple hours anyway, so there's no point in going home..."

"Nah, go for it." Dan makes a dismissive gesture. "Go home, get some sleep. I'll talk to Arin about it."

"Thanks." Barry shuts down his computer, and is in the process of picking up his things when it dawns on him. He looks at Dan. "Wait, why are  _you_ up?"

Caught red-handed. Dan shrugs. "Mini-grump thinks it's time for a party. I'm tryna get her back to sleep." a little white lie can't hurt, right? Either way, Barry falls for it. He nods and shoves the last of his things into a messenger bag, which he then slings over his shoulder.

"Well, uh...good luck." he says, and shuffles away up the stairs.

"See ya."

Now he's really alone. After a quick scan for anyone else he may have missed, Dan flips the light switch. The cool blue light of modems and hard drives replaces fluorescent light. And he starts to pace. Past the bookshelves of games, around the giant beanbag chair. Here goes.

Two or three laps in, the next contraction hits. And holy shit, the stairs must have done something, because his one's got  _teeth_. His knees are wobbly; he sinks into a crouch.

"Fuck's sake..." he splays a hand across his belly.  _Jeez, kid, would you **stop** already? _

Then a thought occurs to him. Aren't these practice contractions supposed to be painless? He tries to focus his attention on the remaining point of pressure. It definitely hurts. Goddammit.

The clock reads 5:15. Arin will still be asleep. Dan's first instinct is to run (well, shuffle quickly) upstairs and wake him. His second, more or less, is "don't bother him". And the pain's died down now anyway...he picks himself up. Steadies himself on a bookshelf. And keeps walking.

 

* * *

 

The sun is coming up. It's 6:30, or at least it was the last time Dan looked at the clock.

It hurts now. It hurts a lot.

And for whatever stupid reason, he's still down here. He's in labor, he knows that by now. It's not like all this walking is going to change anything. All it's doing is making his feet hurt. And yet, around and around he goes.

Dan lowers himself into the big beanbag chair. A momentary relief from the pressure.

This is ridiculous. He needs to tell Arin while he still can, but he doesn't know if he can even get up the stairs now. And he can just imagine how that conversation would go, anyway..."'morning, Big Cat, hope you slept well. Oh, by the way, I'm in labor."

Yeah, no.

Then another contraction grabs him, and  _fuck,_ it's uncomfortable. He waits until it passes and he can catch his breath, then he makes himself get out of the chair (a difficult task even when he wasn't pregnant). Then it's off across the room to the basement door.

Dan flips the light switch when he gets to it. Might as well. Then he stands there and squints in the bright light as he stares down the door. Mini-grump's dropped even further, which has fucked up his center of balance even more. This is gonna be a challenge. But as he opens the door and starts on the first step, there's a noise from upstairs. He strains his ears to listen. Footsteps. This early, it's either Vernon or --

"Dan?"

\-- Arin. So there's one problem solved. He backs down from the stairs. The footsteps recede, then come back into the living room.

" **Dan?** "

"Down here, Arin." Dan calls back. He shuffles back to the beanbag chair, but doesn't sit down. Goddamn, the pressure's intense. Arin's footsteps thump around a bit more.

"DAN?" louder this time.  _The door's open, Arin, you can put two and two together_. Dan takes a deep breath and shouts back.

" **I'm in the office**!"

A pause. The footsteps get even closer. It's an expectant sort of silence.

"'Morning, Big Cat."

_Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump_

A groggy, T-shirt-clad Grump appears at the foot of the stairs. He looks Dan up and down. "How long have you been up?"

"Um..." that's a good question. "What time is it?"

"Almost 7:00."

"'Bout four hours, then." Dan gives in to the beanbag's call and sits down. "Oh, and Barry's either gonna be late today, or he won't come in. 'Cause he was still here when I got up."

"Why were you up in the first place?"

Dan gestures to his belly. It's a good blanket answer for many things, these days.

"Mini-grump not letting you sleep?"

"Sort of."

"'Sort of'?"

Dan stares back at Arin and just waits. Mostly to watch Arin's expression change when it dawns on him.

"Oh my god. Don't tell me you're having contractions."

"I'm having contractions."

"Real ones?"

"I think so."

"For four hours, and you didn't tell me."

"I  _was_ gonna tell you!"

"Yeah? When?"

Dan looks sheepish. "Soon?"

Arin sighs and crouches in front of the beanbag chair. "How bad is it? Do we need to leave?"

"Nah. Not yet." Dan puts a hand on either side of his belly. "It's getting intense, but they're still pretty far apart. I can handle it."

Arin sits back on his haunches. There are a lot of questions in his eyes.

"Alright, so...what do we do now?"

Equally clueless, Dan shrugs. "I guess we just wait."

 

ooO0Ooo


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mini-Grump's playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/wgwize7iwjmde7f4xekctayal/playlist/5WRzXGxMCKxQiCcpABa8dd

"...so what I was thinking is, we can just use these images for now, which would give us enough time to really polish up the official ones. 'Cause they look pretty good as-is, and maybe--"

The office door opens. Arin and Ross turn as one toward the sound: it's Dan, looking like a Saturday morning in his sleep shorts and T-shirt, with a cardboard box in his arms. He looks a little surprised to see them both. He gives Ross a quick nod 'hello', then looks to Arin.

"Found those old games you were looking for," he plunks the box down on Arin's desk; it rattles, and a faint puff of dust rises from it. "Someone put 'em in the garage." he stands back with one hand on his belly. The letters on his WAITING FOR PLAYER THREE shirt glitter in the light.

"Oh hey, awesome. Thanks." Arin takes a game out of the box, eyes it, and puts it back. Then his expression turns serious. "You should really be taking it easy, though."

"I know," Dan stretches out the word. "I'm just restless."

"Any change?"

"Maybe a little. It's hard to tell."

Ross looks back and forth between them, his brow furrowed.

Arin makes a thoughtful noise and stands up. "Alright...I'm gonna take this to the Grump room real quick."

"I can get it, if you--" Dan begins. Arin cuts him off with a look. "...okay."

Arin picks up the box of games and heads for the door. "Be right back, Ross," he says over his shoulder.

"'K."

Ross leans on the desk and pretends to scroll through his phone. Dan steals Arin's spot in the office chair and leans back in it with a quiet grunt of discomfort. Ross gives him a sidelong look.

"So." he tests the water. Dan arches an eyebrow. "What was all that about?"

Dan shrugs against the chair. "Arin's just worried about me. 'S no big deal."

"But what did he mean, 'any change'?"

Now Dan hesitates. Looks at Ross as though weighing his options before he finally speaks.

"I'm in labor," he says slowly. Ross' expression quickly changes to alarm.

"What, like...right now?" Dan shoots him a withering look. He continues, unfazed. "I thought you were gonna have her at the clinic or whatever. The birth center."

"I am. I just wanted to stay here for a while, 'stead of being cooped up in one room for who knows how long." Dan finger-combs his hair back away from his face. "'Cause I've been having contractions since 3:00 this morning; it could go another ten, twelve hours. Or more."

Ross lets out a noise of disbelief. "Damn. You don't, uh..." he gestures vaguely. "You seem like you're doing okay."

"Yeah, for now. The idea of twelve more hours of this kinda makes me want to cry, though."

"Does it really hurt that bad?"

"I mean...kind of, yeah. But it's  _boring,_  that's the problem."this startles a laugh out of Ross and finally breaks the ice. He goes to set his phone on the desk, misses, and drops it on the floor instead with a resounding SMACK. It bounces away under Dan's chair. He makes a face. "Sorry."

"No worries, I got it." Dan slides off his chair to crouch awkwardly on the floor, his belly coming to rest almost between his knees. Retrieving the phone is easy enough; he tosses it back on the desk. Then he swears. On the other side, Ross cocks his head.

"Need some help?" there's still a note of amusement in his voice. Dan responds with a muffled sound of annoyance.

"If you'd be so kind."

So Ross crouches down beside Dan. Dan drapes an arm over his shoulder. Ross does the same to him. And on the count of three, they start to lift their combined selves upright. But halfway to standing, Dan hesitates.

"Ross. Hold up."

"Dude, make up your mind," Ross smirks. But then Dan's hand clenches on his shoulder, and the color drains from his face. He quickly lowers Dan back to the floor, where the two of them crouch awkwardly. Dan grimaces.

"Do you -- should I get Arin?"

"No." Dan pants shallowly. "Just...don't move."

For a very, very long minute, Dan's breathing is the only sound in the room. His hand clenches and unclenches in Ross' shirt, and Ross doesn't move a muscle. Just as the contraction is tapering off and Dan is finally starting to relax, they hear Arin's footsteps approach. And then they hear the footsteps stop.

"Guys?" he sounds thoroughly bemused.

"Down here." Ross waves a hand over the desk. More footsteps, and Arin appears; alarm quickly passes over his face.

"What happened?"

Ross hesitates. "Uh...I dropped my phone, and Dan picked it up for me. And then he had a contraction. I guess." he still looks a bit rattled.

Arin turns to his boyfriend. "Dan, you okay?"

"Worst one yet," Dan breathes. "Fuck." he casts a sidelong look at Ross. "Sorry you had to see that."

"Don't worry about it," says Ross with a nervous smile. He kind of looks like he wants to run.

"Here--" Arin helps them both back to their feet. Ross excuses himself with a hurried 'good luck' and something about taking a rain check, and beats a hasty retreat, leaving the two Grumps alone. Dan turns to lean one-handed on the desk, while his other hand pushes into his hip.

"Hurts, huh?" says Arin.

"Yeah, no shit." Dan digs the heel of his hand into his back instead. "Something's changed. That one was different." he's talking to no one in particular now, as if he's forgotten Arin is there.

"Different how?"

"I don't know. Just different. Pressure in my back." he grimaces. "I think...I think I want to lie down for a bit."

"Okay. Want me to go with you?"

"Yes." the words are hardly out of Arin's mouth before Dan answers. "Please." he stands up straighter, tentatively, and starts toward the door. Arin falls into step beside him, switching off the light as they go.

Their trip through the office is a slow one. Dan feels like he might fall apart at a moment's notice; his hips in particular are trying to pop clean out of their sockets from all the pressure. But Arin is patient. He keeps pace with Dan, one hand around his waist to remind him that he's there, and doesn't try to hurry him forward. They're taking all of this at their own pace.

Then come the stairs; it's like this morning, but worse. Take a step, regain his balance, repeat. It's infuriating. Why do they have all these goddamn stairs, anyway?

Two-thirds of the way up, Dan is seized with a now all-too-familiar feeling: a pinching sort of tightness in his lower back that spreads around to his belly, and now his hips as well. He sinks to his knees and braces his hands on the stairs in front of him. Arin is hovering around, no doubt as distressed by this as he is, but he can't shift his focus away. The contractions are ramping up; they're still manageable for now, but he's turned a corner, which means it'll only get worse from here. But at least when it eventually subsides, it's gone. There's no lingering pain. Just pressure. He manages to turn around and sit on the stair instead, and Arin sits next to him.

"You okay?" there's so much concern in his voice.

"Really wish you'd stop asking that," Dan sighs. Feels like he just ran a mile.

"Sorry."

Dan plants his feet flat on the stair for a minute while he catches his breath. "You know what's weird?"

"What's that?"

"I'm not freaking out like I thought I'd be. Like, I've been so scared of this, but now that it's actually happening..." he shrugs and trails off.

"Probably good that you're not freaking out, though. You've got enough shit to deal with right now."

"Mm." supporting his belly with one hand, Dan tries to get his feet under him again. "Let's go, I don't wanna be standing when the next one hits."

Arin helps him to his feet and together, they navigate the rest of the stairs up into the living room. They don't quite make it to the bedroom in time, however, and Dan rides out the next contraction in the hallway. Bare feet digging into the carpet, hands braced on his thighs, puffing and panting like a steam train. All this moving around is kicking things into overdrive. When they do finally reach their destination, his back is killing him. Again. Even climbing into bed hurts.

Arin frets. He helps Dan get situated -- cushion between his knees, body pillow to support his belly, one more cushion on his back -- then steps back from the bed, and Dan feels a sudden wash of anxiety. He sits up on his elbow and blurts out, "Don't go." Arin just smiles, fond and gently amused.

"What, you really think I'd just leave you like that?" he teases, walking around the bed to climb in on the other side. "Not a chance," he continues as he spoons up behind his boyfriend, "you're stuck with me." then he brushes Dan's hair aside and presses a kiss to the back of his neck. And then another, just for good measure. Dan sighs, a little unsteadily. "I'm proud of you, you're doing so good already," Arin adds. His voice is soft. "Try to get some sleep. I'll be right here."

He's not sure how long he lies there. For a while, he runs his hand up and down Dan's side in what he hopes is a calming gesture. When Dan's breathing starts to slow and even out, his hand gradually stills. He doesn't feel much like sleeping, himself; he's too nervous for that. He digs his phone out of his pocket instead and scrolls aimlessly, listening to the silence of the room. And he waits.

 

* * *

 

Arin doesn't realize he's dozed off until he wakes up next to a furnace. Dan _radiates_ heat, even through the blanket, and he's so tense Arin can barely even see him breathe. He sits up on his elbow.

"Dan?"

He doesn't answer. Arin starts counting seconds, and he's up to 25 when Dan lets out a whooshing breath, draws another, and finally starts to relax. Arin scoots forward enough to see his face; there's a flush high on his cheeks, his forehead is beaded with sweat, and his eyes are screwed shut. They open when Arin repeats his name, and slowly focus on Arin's face.

"That was a mean one," Arin observes. It sounds infinitely more lame when he says it aloud, but his boyfriend just makes an affirmative sound and fixes his gaze on the wall. The room is very quiet. Arin lies down again, closer, and drapes an arm around his waist. Almost immediately, Dan takes his wrist and draws him around himself like a blanket. When Arin's hand drifts down to Dan's belly, bolstered with pillows, he finds every muscle pulled tight. His own stomach cramps up in sympathy. "You doing okay?"

Dan's breath hitches. His hand tightens around Arin's wrist. "No."

Reluctantly, Arin untangles himself and sits up.

"What's going on?"

"It really hurts," Dan says wretchedly. "woke me up. I can't stay on top of it."

"How long were you asleep?"

"I dunno. Two hours?" Dan winces as he sits up, swings his legs over the side to sit with his knees wide apart. "Feels like I'm gonna explode."

Arin scoots around so he's kneeling next to Dan amongst the pillows. "What do you wanna do? Want to just go to the clinic now?"

"No, not yet." Dan brushes a few stray curls out of his face. "I wanna take a shower. If that's okay." suddenly he looks unsure of himself. 

"'Course. Sit tight, I'll get it started for you."

Dan makes a vague affirmative sound as Arin slides off the bed and hurries for the bathroom. Once there, he gives himself a moment to lean on the counter, palms flat, and take a few breaths. This is suddenly real, way too real, and he is absolutely not ready. Not that that makes any difference, of course. But he envies Dan's ability to stay (relatively) calm through all this, even if it is hormone-fueled. Hell, if their roles were reversed, he'd probably be in a hospital bed right now, hooked up to all kinds of pain meds. Hooked up, is that even the right term? Anyway. He pushes off from the counter and over to the tub, starts the water running, and tidies up the bathroom a bit in a mostly-futile effort to settle his nerves. Between that, the loud but pleasant white noise of the water, and god knows what else, he doesn't notice immediately that his name is being called in the next room. When it does click, though, he  _sprints._

He finds Dan weathering a contraction, curled in on himself and gripping the sheets. It's another mean one, and Arin balks momentarily at the sight. Dan grimaces as he approaches.

"My back -- Arin, Jesus, my  _back--"_ his voice is thin and strained. Arin crouches at his feet and rests his hands on his knees.

"You're okay. Just breathe. C'mon, deep breath in through your nose," he watches Dan follow his lead, "and out. There you go. Again." they repeat this process a few more times, until he's sure Dan is at least through the worst of it. Then he stands up. "Still want that shower?"

"Yeah, one sec..." Dan starts to stand up. Arin reaches out to help him, but Dan bats his hands away, leaving Arin to follow in his wake as he treks across the bedroom. He slows as they approach the bathroom, allowing Arin to slip past him and start getting the shower ready. Dan swears breathlessly.

"Another one already?" that's way too soon, isn't it?

"My water broke." there's an air of forced calm to Dan's voice. Arin follows his boyfriend's gaze down to the tile floor, where a small puddle is forming at Dan's feet, and he turns off the shower. Dan smiles sheepishly. "Change of plans."

"Looks like it." Arin grabs the stack of towels from the counter, lays one between Dan's feet and hands him the other, then goes to get a clean pair of shorts while Dan towels off. Dan has already stripped off his shorts and tossed them in the laundry hamper by the time he returns. He helps Dan into the fresh pair of shorts (which turns into a balancing act that would have been funny under different circumstances) and hands him the third towel to put between his legs. Then they just stand and catch their breath.

"What do you think?" asks Dan. His smile is nervous, but bright. "Ready to go meet her?"

"I guess so." Arin returns the smile. Without warning, Dan surges forward and pulls him into a hug, and he melts into it without even thinking. Nestles into the crook of his neck, half-hidden by a mane of curls, and breathes deeply. The skin there is feverish, hot to the touch, but still  _Dan,_ and some of his anxiety bleeds away into excitement. "I love you so fucking much," he murmurs, and Dan laughs lightly as they pull apart and head for the door.

"Love you too, Arin."

 

ooO0Ooo


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it! This chapter's going to be a long one, but I hope you all like it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the weird formatting in the text conversations, guys; I'm trying to find a better way to write those.

The clinic is a modest little building near the edge of town. Iron-gray and flanked with balding trees, it looks at first glance like just another house. But the rooms inside are clean, softly-lit and comfortable, and Dan and Arin found it easy to settle in. Theirs is one of the smaller rooms available; since it's only them, they don't need much space. It's got armchairs and a sofa, a window looking out into the trees, and a jacuzzi-style bathtub just a few steps away from the bed. Their overnight bag sits on the bedside table with the few other necessities they brought; the room itself is quiet. All the activity is focused in one corner, where Dan is perched on an exercise ball. He's been there almost two hours.

As he comes down from the latest round of contractions, he swears under his breath and stands up. Elise, his midwife, watches him carefully. He's not very steady on his feet anymore.

"Where you goin'?" asks Arin. Without answering, Dan peels off his T-shirt and tosses it on the bed, then totters back to the exercise ball with bleary determination. This time, instead of sitting on the ball, he kneels next to it and rests his folded arms on top so his belly is suspended in the middle. Then he begins to rock slowly back and forth.

"Arin?" his voice is fuzzy, like he's right on the edge of sleep.

"Yeah?"

"'s too quiet. Could you...could you turn on some music?"

"Sure." Arin unfolds himself from the sofa, crosses the room to the bed, and digs a tablet out of their overnight bag. "Any requests?"

"My playlist. Th' one I made a few months ago. Should be in the music folder."

Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. The familiar sound of a song fills the room; Dan smiles sleepily. "Thanks." Arin pads back over to his boyfriend and settles on the sofa again. Dan hasn't wanted any kind of physical contact for a while now, so Arin's been trying to keep his distance. Dan shuts his eyes and starts to rock in time to the music, singing softly along with the chorus.

Elise leans in, as though reluctant to do so, and lays a hand on Dan's shoulder. He frowns at the touch. "Dan, if you still want to move to the bath, now would be the time do so."

"No, this is kinda helping," he mutters against the ball. "Wanna stay here for a w--" suddenly his hands clench into fists, and he screws his eyes shut even tighter. "Ah, shit." he moans openly into the crook of his arm. Laboring at home, he barely made a sound, but now he's vocalizing through every contraction. He rocks stiffly back and forth through to the end of it, then falls still, catches his breath, and croaks, "how long was that?"

Elise checks her watch. "Just over three minutes."

"Thank god." if labor is supposed to be a steady incline, Dan's has been more like a staircase. They arrived at the clinic around 1:00, and he's spent the ensuing five or six hours alternately progressing and stalling. Even though he's back to progressing (for now), he's beyond frustrated. And  _way_ beyond tired. He stands up again to stretch his creaking joints and shuffles over to Arin. "Can I join you?" he tries to sound cool and collected, but it falls miserably short. Why is he even trying at this point? Arin pats the empty cushion beside him, and Dan sits down. Arin gives him a long look.

"How you holding up?" he asks. And that does it. If he was teetering on the edge before, he just fell off. Dan slumps sideways, landing with his head on Arin's chest. For all that he didn't want physical contact earlier, suddenly he needs it. Arin gingerly puts his arms around him, presses a kiss to his hair. "That bad, huh?"

"Arin, I'm so fucking tired." sixteen hours of labor and it feels like he's gotten nowhere. He just wants to hold Mini-Grump, to actually see her, but that still seems like such a long way off. His eyes begin to sting; he blinks it back.

"You're doing so good, though. I mean, you heard Elise, you're making progress."

"Yeah, for now."

Arin makes a quiet  _tsk_ sound and says nothing more. In the background, a U2 song starts up. It occurs to Dan that he's holding his breath, and a moment later he sees why: another contraction. At least a minute too soon. He's too tired to do much about it, so for the first twenty seconds or so, he just breathes and lets it wash over him. But then it turns up a notch. He's caught off-guard, and it drags him under. He reaches out for Arin and takes a fistful of his shirt to keep himself afloat, only distantly aware of how much noise he's making.

"Son of a _goddammit --_ Arin,  _help!"_

"I -- how?" sounds like Arin's floundering about as much as he is.

Dan grits his teeth and moans and doesn't answer. He doesn't even know what he's asking for, really. Not that Arin could do a whole lot to help anyway. This is his mountain to climb. Even when his muscles finally un-clench, a full sixty seconds later, the pain sticks around as a dull ache to remind him that it'll be back. He flexes his hand to get some circulation back and slowly sits up (yep, that hurts too). And of course  there's Elise, crouched a few steps away, watching with that meditative look he and Arin have come to know. He massages the knot in his lower back and comments, rather belatedly, "That one was different...pressure's a lot lower. I think that actually accomplished something."

"It might have." Elise stands up. "I'd like to check to be sure."

Fantastic. Insult to injury. Elise and Arin lead him to the bed, help him get situated and relatively comfortable, then he lets his mind wander while the midwife feels out Mini-Grump's itinerary.

"8.5 centimeters," Elise announces when he's finally allowed to sit up. "Looks like you're headed into the transition phase; things are going to get pretty rough for a while. But," she adds, seeing the look of alarm on Dan's face, "this is also the shortest part. It'll be over before you know it." she gives him a rare smile.

Dan takes a few deep breaths, and really hopes she's right.

 

* * *

 

A mug of tea steams in Suzy's hand as she pads, sock-footed, into her bedroom. She places the mug on her bedside table and settles in, sitting with her back against the headboard and the quilt pulled up over her knees. Then she picks up her book and dives back in. The perfect fall evening.

Her phone squawks. She digs it out from under the blanket to find a couple of texts waiting; seems she's been included in a group chat. The first text is from Vernon:

**< Hey, does anyone know where Arin and Dan are? I can't get ahold of either of them>**

The next few are from Barry and Kevin; they haven't heard from them either. That's a little strange. She's about to draft a text of her own when Ross chimes in.

**< They're probably at the hospital>**

**< Dan went into labor this morning>**

Suzy's eyes widen. Well, that explains it. Amidst all the exclamations of surprise and excitement, Barry speaks up:

**< Wait, how do you know that if you haven't heard from them?>**

A pause.

**< I went to the office this morning to help Arin with some social media stuff, and Dan was there>**

**< Let's just say he was definitely in labor>**

 

**< Oh>**

**< Dang>**

 

**< He said it started at like 3 this morning>**

**< Probably had the baby by now>**

 

Now Suzy joins in.

**< Did you tell them?>**

Another pause.

**< No>**

**< I thought you were going to>**

 

 

 **< I thought we weren't going to tell them until after> **says Vernon.

 **< As long as everyone's finished their part, let's just wait to tell them> **says Barry. Vernon agrees; Ross disagrees. Suzy stays out of it. The conversation wanders on from there into other things. Suzy eventually closes it and opens a new one instead, addressed to Dan and Arin. After a few moments' thought, she fires off a text.

 

**< Just heard the news. Congratulations!!>**

**< Can't wait to see baby pictures!>**

 

Then she turns off her phone and sets it aside. She takes a sip of tea, letting the warmth from the mug seep into her skin. Her cat jumps onto the bed and makes a beeline for her lap, purring madly; she absently scratches his ears. Dan and Arin are really going to be dads. What a weird thought. Of course she's happy for them, and excited. But it still feels bizarre. This is going to change everything.

 

* * *

 

The transition phase more than lives up to Elise's description of it. The contractions get closer and closer together until it's impossible to tell where one starts and the other ends. Dan runs hot and cold, he can't stay still, for a while he even forgets where he is. It feels so alien, seeing him like this. Dan's always the chill one, the one to stay on top of a situation while Arin loses his metaphorical shit. Arin's not sure what to do now that the roles are reversed.

At least it's ramping down now. According to Elise, anyway; Arin will take her word for it. Dan still seems so out of it. He's quieter now, sure, but it feels more like the calm before the storm. He's settled (finally) on a chair borrowed from another room, perching almost on the edge of the seat. At his back is a pillow they brought from home, a huge, fluffy, down-filled thing that's been a godsend since they got it two months ago. It takes up nearly half the seat all by itself. His knees are wide apart, and his head is resting back on the pillow. Sometime during transition he ditched his shorts as well, and is now clad only loosely in his kimono robe. His eyes are closed; it almost looks like he's meditating.

Arin is seated in front of him on the exercise ball, for lack of another chair. He's holding Dan's hands, feeling them clench and relax with each contraction. Elise is somewhere nearby making various preparations. The room is so quiet, even with the playlist going. Just watching. Waiting.

Suddenly Dan lets out a quiet moan; the first sound he's made in quite a while. His face creases with discomfort. Arin gives his hands a gentle squeeze.

"Earth to Dan. You still with us?"

No answer. Dan's breathing becomes shallow, and Arin can see the contraction working its way up and around his belly. And then he grunts into the contraction, lifting his head off the pillow and bowing his back with the effort. Wait, is he-?

"Elise?" Arin says over his shoulder.

She's there in a heartbeat. "Good lord, I leave you alone for a minute and you're already halfway to delivery," she smirks.

"Sorry," Dan pants. There's not much left of his voice.

"Oh don't be, I'm just teasing. Are you okay to do this here, or do you want to move?"

Dan shakes his head, seems to remember himself, and mutters, "Here."

"Alright. Let's get this show on the road, then."

Arin can't help but grin. "You ready?"

"Absolutely not." Dan lets out a shaky laugh, which turns into a grimace. "Fuck...gotta push." and before Arin or Elise can say anything in response, he tucks his chin into his chest and does just that.

"Well done," says Elise from the sidelines. Dan gears up to push again, but this time breaks off the effort just as soon as he started. He lets go of his boyfriend's hands and starts to scoot himself off the chair, making a vague shooing gesture at him as he goes.

"Changed my mind," he says to no one in particular. "Wanna move."

"That's fine. You call the shots."

With some help from Arin and Elise, he slides off the chair to the floor. First he sinks into a low squat, which he quickly abandons; instead he sits down with his back to the sofa, sort of loosely cross-legged. Arin settles behind him, legs out straight so that Dan is bracketed between them and can lean back against him. Dan relaxes almost immediately, but only for a moment. No sooner does Elise kneel in front of them with her supplies, than he tenses up into a new contraction.

"Oh fuck, it's -- she's right there,  _fuck --"_ tucking his chin to his chest again, he pushes until he's out of breath, and again to the end of the contraction.

"Good, keep going just like that. It's going to start to burn a little, but just push right through it."

If Dan heard, he gives no indication. He pushes again, drawing his legs up and back like he's trying to fold himself in half. And whether or not he heard it, Elise's warning was just in time: his eyes fly open suddenly, and he lets out a gasp of alarm.

"You're alright," Elise soothes, "just push through it."

So he grits his teeth and barrels on ahead, stopping only to breathe or occasionally readjust. Arin is enthralled. This is so surreal now that it's actually happening, and he doesn't think he's ever been more proud of anyone in his life.

"Here she comes, Dan." Elise again. "Push really hard, her head's almost all the way out."

Arin's heart skips a couple beats. As much as Mini-Grump has been taking her time the past however-many hours (seventeen? Eighteen?), now she's on a roll. Dan presses back against him as he bears down for ten seconds...fifteen...twenty...

"Head's out," says Elise, reaching for a towel.

Dan feels around for his boyfriend's hand, finds it, and squeezes  _hard._ He says Arin's name, a little breathless, and Arin can't tell if that's fear or excitement he hears in his voice.

"'m right here," he says, soft enough that only Dan can hear. "You're almost done, you got this. You're almost done."

"Let's see if we can give her a little more room to work with," Elise continues. "Arin, could you help Dan pull his knees to his chest for this one?"

With Arin's help, Dan draws his knees even farther up and back until they almost bracket his belly. Then gathers himself up and pushes, moaning in the back of his throat when the contraction peaks. The sound sinks down into his chest and becomes a rough-edged growl, then a yelp, and then eighteen hours and twenty minutes of labor come to an end as their daughter slips into the world. Elise clears the baby's nose and mouth and then places her, already squirming and angry, on Dan's chest. Dan is floored.

"Oh my god. Holy crap, I...oh my god. How do I -- how do I hold her?" his voice is hoarse, a combination of both emotions and exhaustion. After some instruction from Elise, he finally gathers the baby up and cuddles her close. "Hey, peanut. Hello." she takes her first deep breath and starts to wail, and Dan lets out a noise that's some combination of a laugh and a sob. "Yeah, I hear you. Nice to meet you too." he draws a shaky breath of his own. "Oh my god Arin, look at this. Look what we did."

Arin is equally thunderstruck. He rests his chin on Dan's shoulder to get a better look at her. It's sappy as all hell, but he's already having visions of her as a kid, sporting not just Dan's wild curly hair but his good-natured sass as well. He turns and presses a kiss to the side of Dan's neck and murmurs, "I'm so goddamn proud of you." the baby is starting to calm to the sound of their voices; he takes a long moment to look at her before continuing, "What's her name? You told me you'd picked one out."

"Rose," says Dan, without hesitation. He holds out a finger and grins with astonishment when the baby takes hold of it. "Rose Alia, I think."

Arin  _beams._ "Perfect." for the first time in a while, he glances up past Dan and Elise, and notices moonlight streaming in through the far window. "Wait, what time is it?"

"9:27," says Elise. Suddenly the day hits him like a ton of bricks. And he hasn't been up half as long as Dan. Good luck separating either of them from the baby long enough for sleep, though.

Rose Alia. He rolls the name around in his head as he and Dan admire their daughter, counting fingers and toes and marveling at her slate-gray eyes. Even if her arrival does herald the end of Game Grumps, he thinks he could be okay with it. She makes all of that worth it.

 

ooO0Ooo

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment if you like the story -- I'd love to hear from you!


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